Seminar by Shauna Parkes 10/09/2024

Tuesday 10th September at 11:30, Salle Laurent Vinay (R+1), INT

Shauna Parkes (INCIA CNRS and Université de Bordeaux)

(invited by Christelle Baunez)

Contextual control of choice and the role of ventral hippocampus

Abstract: Contexts have a strong influence on behaviour and most animals are highly efficient at recognizing their surrounding environment. Indeed, environments can signal the information to which we should attend and can also indicate the most appropriate course of action. My current research has explored the functions of “context” in associative learning and how context can influence acquired behaviour. Here, I will consider two situations in which context can potentially influence goal-directed action. The first is when the context acts as a gatekeeper or modulator to signal the most appropriate action at a given moment and the second is when the context itself acts as a predictive cue and enters into associative competition with instrumental actions. Our research shows that the hippocampus, mainly through its ventral part, supports this contextual modulation of goal-directed behaviour likely via its input to the prefrontal cortex.